Month: January 2014

Profiled for the Professor by Maria Devan

Courtesy latisimports.comPours what looks at first glance to be a murky brown. Rather nondescript with a finger and a half of loose bubbles that popped like soap bubbles pretty quickly and left a ring. Soapy lace as it drinks.

Nose is half hearted. There is a light twang of vinegar that dissipates quickly, plenty of wood and earth and some very light cherry. Funky and has a scent deep in the nose that that smells like “sour.” That vinegar twang comes back only lightly as it warms.

The taste is also very light. It has a tartness but it’s not terrific. It has cherry but it’s too light and not deeply sweet. There is some acidity but it’s not lively and it doesn’t create tension with a bright acidity. The sour and funk give it a bit of depth and there is a light cracker taste from the malt.

It becomes more interesting as it warms and drinks easily with nothing to frighten anyone who is shy of sour beers. As you drink it achieves a wine like sweetness in the middle that is quite nice.

Mouthfeel is bubbly and light without a malt presence except as a blank canvas. I was a little disappointed in this one but it’s not a bad beer. It lacks complexity. Serving type: bottle.

Rated at a 4.

Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”

___________________________________________________Beer HERE

Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.

But I WILL.

Tons of pillow head, long lasting with nice lace which fits well with the style. Light yellow just a hint of haze, a tad off for the style. Head clings to side of the glass, desperately.

A bit of pepper in the aroma with pilsner malt and some candy sugar sweetness, also citrus: grapefruit-like. Could be hops, more likely some hops but more spices like cardamom. The pepper is the expected phenolic in the style.

Mouthfeel: just a hint of harshness one might find from white candy sugar. Light carbonation in mouthfeel. I would not call this “smooth,” or “creamy.” Does finish medium dry, as expected.

The taste, to be honest, is a bit harsh, but as it warms out smoothes out a tad. Pilsner malt up front. Behind that: alcohol, slight bitter. No hop aroma or flavor. More bitter than sweet, and this is part of the harsh, but I also suspect the abv has been pumped a tad by sugar more suited to a triple.ABV highfor style (9.5) which could also be the sugar. There’s meant to be a sweetness here, for the style, but it’s covered by the harshness.

To be honest this has a style issue: they went too far into being a tripel due to the white candy sugar-like haeshness. not bad. But a Blonde? Eh, no.

I’m really out of the mainstream here. 92 on Beer Advocate. 97, and 95 for style on Rate Beer. I really think they’re missing the style differences here.

3: slightly on the low side of.

Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”

For more than 100 years, Jelly Belly has been a leading name in the jelly bean industry, with flavors like Buttered Popcorn, Toasted Marshmallow and Bubble Gum. And now? Beer.

Jelly Belly debuted Draft Beer as its newest flavor on Saturday. While the news comes only one month after the December release of its Tabasco Dark Chocolate flavor, the latest addition to the Jelly Belly family is one that has been three years in the making.

Everywhere you look on the internet, you’ll notice that people absolutely love lists. We are being bombarded with “top 10 of this” and “7 best of that”, and yet they are so dang addicting you want to click to see if you agree.

It’s no different in the beer world where you will see lists such as “15 Best IPAs” and “The Worlds 7 Greatest Stouts”.

I have nothing against these types of posts at all as they aim to celebrate some amazing beers. However saying that any beer is “the best” of any category doesn’t make sense to me.

First off, beer is subjective. What is best to me isn’t the best to you. All of us have different tastes and what I might find appealing about a beer, you might detest. Plus the more beer you drink, the more your tastes start to change.

By Ken Carman Every year my wife, Millie, and I judge at The Music City Brewoff: a competition run by one of two clubs we’re members of. This year I had to head north to take care of business at our retirement shack.
As editors of The Brew-Score: publication of The Music City Brewers, I usually write an article on the Brew Off… or I ask someone else in the club to write one. This year our president did a year review and since we weren’t there I decided not to publish what I had in the works. But then I thought, “Hey, what about The Professor?”
You see, other than being editors of the Brew-Score, and I’m a writer for the Professor, we do have an advantage when it comes to covering competitions. For almost 30 years I traveled as an entertainer… and starting in the late 90s I discovered there are competitions in many of my port-o-calls. Millie judges at them too, occasionally.
I have discovered there are things we do right at The Music City Brew Off I can share, and things others do well that we all might learn from. And since this column is web-based, people in clubs nationwide can discover possible interesting additions to their competitions. Continue reading “A Beer Judge’s Diary: Multiple Competitions Musings”

SPENCER, Mass. (AP) — For more than a century, Catholic Cistercian monks known as Trappists have been brewing and selling what many beer lovers consider some of the best in the world. Eight monasteries — six in Belgium and one each in Holland and Austria — produce the only beer recognized by the International Trappist Association as authentic Trappist beer.

And starting Thursday, the 63 brothers of St. Joseph’s Abbey — about an hour’s drive west of Boston — will join them, selling the first Trappist beer brewed outside Europe.

Their ambitious venture was hardly met with enthusiasm by their exacting Trappist brothers in Europe.

After all, for nearly 60 years the monks in Spencer, Mass., had been selling jams and jellies to help support their community. Now they were interested in the real family business: beer.

Attention Future Brew-masters: The idea of a beer garden will take on a whole new meaning for those who attend a Jan. 24 workshop entitled “From Garden to Glass: Home Brewing with Your Garden Harvest”

Rutgers Master Gardeners will inform participants which fruits and vegetables can be grown for home brewing during the 6:30 p.m. workshop at the EARTH Center in Davidson’s Mill Pond Park at 42 Riva Ave. in South Brunswick. Imagine: your own pumpkin or fig ale…

Michael Klaser, a home-brewer and amateur brew-master for the last 5 years, also will be sharing his experiences in the art and science of home brewing with produce. He has firsthand access to garden-grown ingredients, his wife, Diana, being a Rutgers Master Gardener in training.Want to read more? Please click…